Advances in micro-miniaturization within the semiconductor industry in recent years have enabled biotechnologists to begin packing traditionally bulky sensing tools into smaller and smaller form factors, onto so-called biochips. Biochips may be used for nanopore-based sequencing.
The step of inserting a nanopore into a lipid bilayer is performed after it is determined that a lipid bilayer has been properly formed within a cell of the nanopore based sequencing chip. In some techniques, the process of determining whether a lipid bilayer has been properly formed in a cell may cause an already properly formed lipid bilayer to be destroyed. In other words, the stimulus voltage for testing the lipid bilayer may be destructive to the lipid bilayer. In the event that an already properly formed lipid bilayer is destroyed by the stimulus voltage, a very high current begins to flow across the electrodes as a result of the short-circuit condition. In response, the system may try to re-form a new lipid bilayer in the particular cell again; however, this is both time-consuming and inefficient. In addition, the lipid bilayer may not re-form in the particular cell in a subsequent trial. As a result, the overall percentage of cells in the nanopore based sequencing chip with properly formed lipid bilayers and nanopores (i.e., the yield of the nanopore based sequencing chip) is reduced. It would be desirable to develop techniques for nanopore-based sequencing biochips that make them more robust, efficient, and cost-effective.